The wave of artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is not as simple as Google Search. Previously, if you asked Google Search for a seven-character quatrain, it would search a vast database, but it would only retrieve existing verses; it wouldn’t automatically create new ones. Today, you can feed AI a photo of you, graduating from college with your parents on the side and receiving your diploma, and ask it to write a seven-character quatrain in a standard rhyme to express your excitement, along with a 10-second video capturing your joyful feelings. In less than a minute, the AI will produce a highly competent seven-character quatrain and a tear-jerking video. These quatrains and videos are skillfully created by AI using its generative power. Furthermore, AI can write computer software. When I was developing a sky map type of app in 2025, I enlisted AI to help write the relevant codes to be used on the website. The AI offered hundreds of lines of software in less than a minute, and then they ran flawlessly. It’s incredible.
In addition to AI, the development of humanoid robots to assist humans in various tasks is also a key focus for many major tech companies. We’ve all seen robots assembling cars in auto factories before, and now smart cars like Tesla’s use robots to assist drivers. These aren’t just fantasies; they’re happening right before our eyes.
These high-tech achievements were ultimately made possible by the invention of semiconductors by physicists at Bell Labs in 1947, enabling the rapid operation of binary logic circuits. Speed is everything. From then on, human civilization shifted in a major direction, towards the world of computers. Over the past 50 years, various computers have greatly aided both workplaces and family life. However, as always, human biological intelligence possesses boundless creativity in all areas, even capable of producing artificial intelligence. With the increasing power of AI, combined with the development of robots, will this pose a threat to humanity, particularly in the crucial job market?
Some are deeply concerned. University of Louisville computer science professor Roman Yampolskiy, for example, stated in a recent podcast that AI will render 99% of the workforce unemployed by 2030. Even computer programmers and some AI engineers will inevitably be impacted by the wave of automation. As human society prioritizes maximizing profits, those easily replaced by AI will be ruthlessly eliminated. This unprecedented wave of unemployment is coming at a speed so swift that even governments are unable to formulate any countermeasures. The vast majority of workers, for whom work is the core of the meaning of their lives, will find life meaningless under the weight of unemployment. The resulting social problems will have a profound impact on human society. He predicts that AI and robotics systems with human-like capabilities in various fields will take place by 2027. After three years of devastating decline, the labor market is likely to collapse completely. A 10% unemployment rate is alarming enough, but he’s talking about 99%!
Although not quite so frightening, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA and a prominent American high-tech figure , also foresees the impact of AI and robotics. In a speech at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) Economic Summit in March 2024, he predicted that within five years, artificial intelligence will pass all human tests (e.g., bar exams and medical licenses), which would significantly transform education, careers, and knowledge-based work. He also predicted that within ten years, AI computing power would increase a million-fold, giving AI an even greater advantage. At SIGGRAPH, the annual conference for computer graphics and interactive techniques in Denver in August 2024, Huang stated that AI would change everyone’s job, including his own. However, he emphasized that AI significantly enhances human capabilities, not replaces them. Regarding unemployment, Huang mentioned in a July 2025 CNN interview that AI-driven productivity could lead to job losses if humans lack new ideas. However, historically, technology has not only increased employment but also output. He called artificial intelligence the “greatest technology equalizer,” saying it allows non-technical people to easily acquire skills they otherwise wouldn’t have, enabling an “abundance of ideas” for a better future. Meta’s Yann LeCun is equally optimistic, believing that artificial intelligence will transform jobs rather than completely replace them.
Besides this, Adam Dorr of RethinkX predicts mass unemployment by 2045. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” believes that “mundane intellectual work” such as call center and paralegal jobs will be replaced, but believes that manual labor such as plumbing is relatively safe. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei suggests that half of entry-level office jobs could disappear within five years, while OpenAI’s Sam Altman believes that society will adapt and create new roles.
I’ve worked in the US tech industry for 40-50 years, and personally commissioned Grok recently to write JavaScript software. My experience has been that AI is truly amazing. Each time, it gives me nearly a hundred lines of code, each packed with dense logic. When I executed them, the results were incredibly accurate, jaw-dropping! Over the past year, I’ve used seven or eight different AI systems and frequently observed how others were using them. I also feel that AI is bringing incredible changes to various areas of human civilization. However, I still think that the prediction that AI will replace 99% of the world’s jobs within five years is too alarmist. A prediction of 30% within 10 years is more reasonable. Even so, it’s hard to imagine what surviving jobs will look like in 10 years. And with such high unemployment rates, will human society be completely transformed? (2025-09-04 New Jersey)